FREE/BARGAIN — Non-Fiction

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

Debt: The First 5,000 Years (10th anniversary edition) by David Graeber is $1.99 on Amazon.com

As a small child, I learned "The Lord's Prayer" in the Presbyterian Church with a "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors". At some point, between then and my now agnostic and aged infirmities, the word 'debt' was replaced with 'trespass'.

The five year old still in me, feels kind of weirded out by that. It's kind of like Wall Street bankers didn't think they could get into heaven without some addendum to their agreement with God.

I got the book, BTW. I wonder if there is anything in there about Divine contract negotiation!

[binaryhermit]

"How Women Got Their Curves and Other Just-So Stories: Evolutionary Enigmas" by David P. Barash and Judith Eve Lipton $2.99 on Amazon US
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0097CWJ7Y/

[Tarana]

Baking Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum $3.99 Amazon, Kobo and B&N
I have Rose's Pie and Pastry Bible and the Cake Bible and these recipes are all winners. Very meticulous.

Legendary baker Rose Levy Beranbaum is back with her most extensive “bible” yet. With all-new recipes for the best cakes, pies, tarts, cookies, candies, pastries, breads, and more, this magnum opus draws from Rose’s passion and expertise in every category of baking. As is to be expected from the woman who’s been called “the most meticulous cook who ever lived,” each sumptuous recipe is truly foolproof—with detail-oriented instructions that eliminate guesswork, “plan-aheads,” ingenious tips, and highlights for success. From simple everyday crowd-pleasers (Coffee Crumb Cake Muffins, Gingersnaps, Gooseberry Crisp) to show-stopping stunners (Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse Tart, Mango Bango Cheesecake, White Christmas Peppermint Cake) to bakery-style pastries developed for the home kitchen (the famous French Kouign Amann), every recipe proves that delicious perfection is within reach for any baker.

[GtrsRGr8]

Palgrave Macmillan's Deal of the Day is Video Games and Well-being, by Rachel Kowert (editor).

Description
Presents research to demonstrate how gaming can be a pro-social, mentally healthy activity . . . . This book examines how video game mechanics and narratives can teach players skills associated with increased psychological well-being. It integrates research from psychology, education, ludology, media studies, and communication science to demonstrate how game play can teach skills that have long been associated with increased happiness and prolonged life satisfaction, including flexible thinking, openness to experience, self-care, a growth mindset, solution-focused thinking, mindfulness, persistence, self-discovery and resilience. The chapters in this volume are written by leading voices in the field of game studies, including researchers from academia, the video gaming industry, and mental health practitioners paving the way in the field of “geek therapy.”
This book will advance our understanding of the potential of video games to increase our psychological well-being by helping to mitigate depression, anxiety, and stress and foster persistence, self-care, and resilience.

The book is available as an ePub or PDF.

The ebook is usually $44.99. However, with it being a Deal of the Day (through May 6), it is only $9.99 right now.

[Loosheesh]

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli - $1.99 (Amazon US)

This playful, entertaining, and mind-bending introduction to modern physics briskly explains Einstein's general relativity, quantum mechanics, elementary particles, gravity, black holes, the complex architecture of the universe, and the role humans play in this weird and wonderful world. Carlo Rovelli, a renowned theoretical physicist, is a delightfully poetic and philosophical scientific guide. He takes us to the frontiers of our knowledge: to the most minute reaches of the fabric of space, back to the origins of the cosmos, and into the workings of our minds. The book celebrates the joy of discovery.

“Here, on the edge of what we know, in contact with the ocean of the unknown, shines the mystery and the beauty of the world,” Rovelli writes. “And it’s breathtaking.”

[Tarana]

Dunkirk By Joshua Levine $1.99 Amazon, Kobo and B&N

The real history behind the Academy Award–winning film: The Battle of Dunkirk was a defining event in the early years of World War II. This engrossing New York Times bestseller delves into the pivotal evacuation — and the lives of the soldiers, civilians, and airmen who shaped it.

[gunbad]

Book Row: An Anecdotal and Pictorial History of the Antiquarian Book Trade

For those who might want to reminisce for a $1.99.

[GtrsRGr8]

The book is sold by Amazon as a Kindle (mobi) for $10.08 and by Google Play (I think that you would be able to download it there as a PDF and/or ePub) for $9.99. It may be sold elsewhere--probably is.

The paid version is published by Bloomsbury India. But somehow the University of Missouri, Saint Louis is able to offer this book as a free PDF download, from their website. Here's the linky.

There are 175 pages to this book, at least with the PDF at the University of Missouri, Saint Louis.

Self-help books abound. It's hard to cut through the noise and latch on to a really good one, IMHO. Well, Amazon rates the book 4.6/5.0. Another indication of the value of this 2018-published book is that it already has been cited 68(!) times (source: Google Scholar).

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by Loosheesh

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli - $1.99 (Amazon US)

I've just read Helgoland by him, telling the history and concepts of quantum physics. He's great at making such subjects accessible and entertaining!

[Tarana]

Inside Marine One By Colonel Ray “Frenchy” L’Heureux with Lee Kelley $1.99 Amazon, Kobo and B&N

In this inspiring and illuminating account, a Marine One helicopter pilot who flew four US presidents shares the story of his life — from his childhood to his journey to becoming a Marine officer to commanding one of the world’s most famous helicopters.

...George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. It's also a personal guided tour inside the world's most famous helicopter by a man who knows that flying machine better than any other.

[j.p.s]

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall is on sale today on amazon.com for $1.99

https://www.amazon.com/Born-Run-Chri.../dp/B0028MBKVG

I read it years ago. It is an interesting, fun, and informative read. I don't run or even jog and still found it a great read.

[GtrsRGr8]

Palgrave Macmillan's Deal of the Day is BBC World Service
Overseas Broadcasting, 1932–2018. Regularly priced $79.99, it's only $9.99 today. That's nearly 88% off.

Description, courtesy of Palgrave Macmillan:
This book is the first full-length history of the BBC World Service: from its interwar launch as short-wave radio broadcasts for the British Empire, to its twenty-first-century incarnation as the multi-media global platform of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The book provides insights into the BBC’s working relationship with the Foreign Office, the early years of the Empire Service, and the role of the BBC during the Second World War. In following the voice of the BBC through the Cold War and the contraction of the British empire, the book argues that debates about the work and purposes of the World Service have always involved deliberations about the future of the UK and its place in the world. In current times, these debates have been shaped by the British government’s commitment to leave the European Union and the centrifugal currents in British politics which in the longer term threaten the integrity of the United Kingdom. Through a detailed exploration of its past, the book poses questions about the World Service’s possible future and argues that, for the BBC, the question is not only what it means to be a global broadcaster as we enter the third decade of the twenty-first century, but what it means to be a national broadcaster in a divided kingdom.

Despite being one of the colonists , I still find the subject intriguing. Maybe I'll find a kindred spirit. I am particularly interested in the BBC's work in World War II (the chapter devoted to that is 58 pages long), and just prior to it. Others may be more interested in discussion of the impact of the much more recent Brexit upon the BBC, or other topics.

338 pages. Available in both ePub and PDF.

Grab it here.

[GtrsRGr8]

Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-First Century.

Entire Description on Amazon book's webpage:
An incisive, groundbreaking book that examines how a biological concept of race is a myth that promotes inequality in a supposedly “post-racial” era.

Though the Human Genome Project proved that human beings are not naturally divided by race, the emerging fields of personalized medicine, reproductive technologies, genetic genealogy, and DNA databanks are attempting to resuscitate race as a biological category written in our genes.

This groundbreaking book by legal scholar and social critic Dorothy Roberts examines how the myth of race as a biological concept—revived by purportedly cutting-edge science, race-specific drugs, genetic testing, and DNA databases—continues to undermine a just society and promote inequality in a supposedly “post-racial” era. Named one of the ten best black nonfiction books 2011 by AFRO.com, Fatal Invention offers a timely and “provocative analysis” (Nature) of race, science, and politics that “is consistently lucid . . . alarming but not alarmist, controversial but evidential, impassioned but rational” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

Everyone concerned about social justice in America should read this powerful book.—Anthony D. Romero, executive director, American Civil Liberties Union.

A terribly important book on how the ‘fatal invention’ has terrifying effects in the post-genomic, ‘post-racial’ era. —Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, professor of sociology, Duke University, and author of Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States.

Fatal Invention is a triumph! Race has always been an ill-defined amalgam of medical and cultural bias, thinly overlaid with the trappings of contemporary scientific thought. And no one has peeled back the layers of assumption and deception as lucidly as Dorothy Roberts. —Harriet A. Washington, author of and Deadly Monopolies: The Shocking Corporate Takeover of Life Itself.

402 pages.

Very highly rated at both Amazon and GoodReads.

Only $1.99. No regular Kindle price mentioned, but the list print price is $19.95. If you buy the Kindle book, you can get the audible narration for only $7.49.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0053Q1VYA.

[gunbad]

Battle: The Story of the Bulge
For the John Toland fans in Nonfiction.
AmazonUS $0.71. Yes you heard me right. Don’t know why it’s this low but I’m in. Good, bad or ugly, I'll gamble 71 cents.

[GtrsRGr8]

Looks like an outstanding find.

If someone is interested in pursuing the subject further, for cheap, here is another: A Time For Trumpets: The Untold Story of the Battle of the Bulge. $2.99.

The book may be a case of TMI, however--it has 931 pages.

https://www.amazon.com/Time-Trumpets...d_i=B082XGLWSQ